


become the flowers

by Yuuzel



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Fairy Tale Elements, Fantasy AU, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Mentions of Injuries, Oikawa gets way too attached way too quickly, fluff if you squint, forest spirit oikawa, mercenary iwaizumi, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24344164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuuzel/pseuds/Yuuzel
Summary: “You can't just ask for a fairy's name,” Oikawa scoffed, “but I guess you can call me Oikawa.”Oikawa had another name, his real name, but he rarely used it anymore. It was safer that way.“Your should eat. The berries are a gift”, Oikawa said, a bit more quietly.For a moment, the human looked at him suspiciously, before deciding that he probably had nothing to loose. “Thank you. You can call me Iwaizumi, by the way.”+++Oikawa did not expect the first human he meets to be an injured mercenary bleeding all over his favorite tree.He also did not expect that he would not want him to leave.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 10
Kudos: 58





	become the flowers

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to too much Hozier and this is what happened.  
> (I primarily listened to "from Eden", "in a week" and "Sunlight" while writing, if you're interested)

Getting visitors was a rare occurrence for Oikawa.  
It was difficult to stumble into his secluded part of the great forest by accident, and there was barely any reason to go there on purpose. 

His home was a perfectly ordinary, moderately sized patch of trees. To the untrained eye, there was nothing separating that patch of trees from the thousands of other trees surrounding it.  
Someone familiar with magic and the woodlands however, would be able to tell the subtle differences that marked this part of the woods as Oikawa's. It could be said that anyone involved enough in magic to know Oikawa's name, would also know how to tell the bark of his trees, the flowers between his grass and the birds flying between his leaves apart from the, in Oikawa's opinion, clearly inferior bark, flowers, and birds of the other spirits residing in and ruling over the forest.

The newest visitor however, clearly had no clue about Oikawa's existence and importance around these parts.  
Judging from the panicked look in his eyes, the young human seemed to be running from something or someone.  
His clothes were torn in places, his right leg was dragging and he was tightly clutching his left arm to his body. There was an empty sheath strapped to his hip.

Oikawa rarely left his beloved woods and when he did it was only to visit friends in similar, if less beautiful parts of the great forest, so this was his first time seeing someone this... frightened. 

After having trampled all over one of Oikawa's favorite patches of flowers, the injured traveler settled down on a small clearing.  
He leaned against tree Oikawa had cared for since the moment the seed had first touched the ground, staining it with his weird human blood. The forest spirit had heard of bleeding before, but he had not been prepared for the strong smell, or for how, well, painful it looked.  
Curiously, Oikawa came closer to the human, not dropping his disguise. 

The man had tanned skin that suggested he spend a lot of time under the sun. His hair was short and messy, almost spiky.  
His face could have been handsome, had it not been contorted with pain, his jaw was sharp and his cheekbones defined.  
He seemed to be some kind of warrior, but his clothes did not distinctly belong to any kingdom Oikawa knew of. Maybe his visitor was a mercenary of some kind.

Not seeing Oikawa in front of him, the human closed his eyes. Slowly, his breath became more and more even, until it seemed like he was sleeping.  
This gave Oikawa a better opportunity to admire his face. He looked calm, peaceful and a lot younger than expected. Still, even in sleeping, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed.  
Oikawa decided that he liked his face. 

He let his eyes travel further down and noticed that the traveler's shoulders were quite broad. A rare sight for Oikawa, who usually only spoke to other fairy-like creatures, who usually preferred a more lithe appearance for themselves. 

Oikawa played with the thought of starting an argument with the traveler, after all he had stomped all over his daisies and was now staining his favorite tree with his blood.  
He liked arguing and he had every reason to do so with the visitor. Yet somehow he felt like the visitor would not be able to provide him with any witty comebacks in his weak state.

For that reason, and that reason only, the forest spirit decided to go and search for some berries and nuts. 

+++

When his human, which was what Oikawa had started calling him in his mind, awoke, Oikawa was already sitting next to him. Disguised of course. An ordinary creature such as a human would not be able to see him unless he wanted them to.

His human did not look well-rested, even though he had been sleeping for hours. The sun had managed to set and rise again before he woke up.  
The small pile of wild strawberries and beechnuts in his lap seemed to surprise him. 

Instead of being grateful, like he should be, and thanking the forest for its generous gift, he looked around, as if he was searching for something. 

Oikawa of course, could not stand for his forest to be subjected to such rudeness. He simply had no other choice than to reveal himself.

“Greetings, human,” Oikawa breathed into his human's ear.

Said human immediately flinched and looked at him in shock.  
His eyes widened in fear and his mouth opened without saying anything.

Oikawa inched away from the human, not wanting to scare him too much. 

He felt the man's eyes glide over him and he saw the way his gaze softened. His human eyes were filled with awe and maybe still a small bit of fear.

“Am I dead?”, the man asked, his voice scared but somewhat hopeful. 

“No you're not, silly human,” Oikawa replied. 

At that, the human's brows furrowed again. His face became less open, more defensive. “Who are you? More importantly, what are you?”

Oikawa brushed a strand of his brown hair behind his pointed ear. He gestured at his ear and then at the loose fabric draped around his slender body. He raised his eyebrow and said, “What exactly does it look like I could be? I have beautiful soft hair, long ears and I'm sitting in a forest dressed in this majestic white fabric.”  
“What's your name then, fairy?”, his human asked, a little more relaxed. He didn't seem to think of Oikawa as a threat.

“You can't just ask for a fairy's name,” Oikawa scoffed, “but I guess you can call me Oikawa.”  
Oikawa had another name, his real name, but he rarely used it anymore. It was safer that way. 

“You should eat. The berries are a gift”, Oikawa said, a bit more quietly.

For a moment, the human looked at him suspiciously, before deciding that he probably had nothing to lose. “Thank you. You can call me Iwaizumi, by the way.”

Iwaizumi picked the berries up with his right hand, as the left was injured. He sighed happily after having swallowed some of them.

“Do you like them?” Oikawa shuffled closer to him again. “It looks like it has been a while since you last ate. 

His human, no, Iwaizumi chuckled weakly. “You could say that.”

Oikawa liked the way his chuckle sounded. He wondered how a real laugh from Iwaizumi would sound like. 

“Oh, and the berries are great. Are they yours?”, Iwaizumi asked. 

“They belong to the forest. Though I did help them grow,” Oikawa replied, not without pride. 

Iwaizumi looked around and smiled at him. “I don't think I've ever been around here before. It's really beautiful here.”

That made Oikawa really happy. He loved a nice smile, which Iwaizumi certainly had, and he liked compliments even more.

Almost shyly, Oikawa glanced at Iwaizumi. “Well, I guess you could stay here for a while if you like it that much, Iwa-chan.”

“What did you just call me?” Iwa-chan blinked in confusion.

“I'll see you around!” Oikawa said and disappeared into the woods again. 

+++

The next time Oikawa visited Iwaizumi with more berries and some nuts, he was awake and in pain. 

He dropped the berries into Iwaizumi's lap and gently took his injured left hand into his hands. Iwaizumi winced.

“Poor little Iwa-chan... This looks really painful,” Oikawa said, almost cooing. 

Iwaizumi swallowed. “That's nothing compared to what my leg feels like.” 

It wasn't fair that someone with a smile, or hands, or eyes as nice as Iwaizumi's could hurt so much. What a pity that he was a human, humankind should be honoring beauty a lot more. 

“This should not have happened to you,” Oikawa whispered.

“You don't know how it happened. Maybe I deserved it,” Iwaizumi said.

“I don't care.”  
Oikawa really didn't. He didn't want to know how this had happened. Did not want to know what type of violence would result in this. “I can help.”

Iwaizumi's eyes lit up. “You would do that?”

“Of course,” Oikawa nodded, “but I need to know your name first.”

At that, Iwaizumi turned quiet. His lips turned into a tight line and he was looking at everything that was not Oikawa. “I can't. It's too dangerous.”

Pouting, Oikawa stood up. He did not just disappear like last time, he wanted Iwaizumi to see him stomp away. Angrily he shouted over his shoulder, “Tell me if you find another option!”

+++

Iwaizumi's handsome face looked pale and damp with sweat.  
Instead of dropping the food in his lap, Oikawa fed him berries one by one. Even chewing them seemed like it was tiring the young human. 

“We have strawberries at home, too,”, Iwaizumi said, thoughtfully,  
“I wonder if they're already ripe.”

Oikawa looked at the way Iwaizumi's throat moved when swallowing. His Iwaizumi had a home that he probably missed.

“Do you want to go back?”, Oikawa asked.

“I have to,” the human answered. “Though I guess I might not make it back.”

Oikawa let Iwaizumi lean onto him when he was finished eating. It didn't feel like he had imagined it to, Iwaizumi felt too warm and his breathing couldn't seem to calm down completely. 

Carding a finger through Iwaizumi's hair, he noticed the sweat covering his head. “Is your home as pretty as this forest?”

“Definitely not.” Iwaizumi laughed weakly. “It's beautiful in its own way. My family is not very fancy, and our house also isn't, but my mother likes to decorate it with flowers whenever she can.

“There is also a lot more noise than here. My younger sister really loves to sing.”

That caught the forest spirit's interest. “Is she a good singer?”

“Yes, I think so. She is talented. Fairies like that stuff, don't they?”

“We do,” Oikawa said cheerfully. “I can sing for you sometime!”  
They talked more about flowers, singing and Iwaizumi's home until the sun began to set and the light dimmed. 

Oikawa did not like to think about Iwaizumi leaving, he liked looking at him, talking to him, and leaning against trees with him. However, he really liked the way Iwaizumi's tired eyes lit up when speaking about his sister or the way his mother baked bread. The eternal furrow of his eyebrows almost vanished and the corners of his chapped lips curled into a smile.

After talking for so long, they just sat against each other and listened to the wind rustling the leaves.  
A few times, Oikawa thought that Iwaizumi might have fallen asleep, but he seemed to be having difficulties. 

While Oikawa may not have known a lot about human sickness or injuries, it was easy to tell that his human was not well at all.  
The redness on his cheeks may have pleased Oikawa in a different situation, but it just looked patchy and alarming.

He knew that he could help Iwaizumi. If Iwaizumi would just tell him his full name, it wouldn't take long to heal him and replenish his lost energy. Oikawa did it all the time for his plants.  
Yes, the trees did have names, and Oikawa knew them all because he had named every single one.

Iwaizumi's distrust and unwillingness to tell him his name didn't hurt Oikawa. Because while knowing his name could give him the opportunity to help him, it could also enable him to do less pleasant things. Oikawa had no interest in unnecessarily making the lives of humans difficult – they managed to do that by themselves just fine, it was not worth his time.  
Still, the thought of making Iwaizumi stay if he got his name had definitely crossed his mind. He could spend every day with Iwa-chan like this, but he knew it was not what Iwaizumi wanted.  
Him leaving was a painful thought, but not as painful as the thought of Iwaizumi hurting, like he was right now. 

He was hurt because he was not home and he was hurt because of whatever was going on with his leg, arm, and body heat.  
All of this made Oikawa want to bring up his name again, but for now, he would wait for his human to fall asleep.

+++

Oikawa did not leave Iwaizumi's side for the rest of the night.  
It scared him, what could happen if he let the sick human out of his sight. He alternated between gazing at the few stars he could see through the leaves and Iwaizumi's face. 

When Iwaizumi started shivering, he pulled him closer nuzzled his sticky hair. He felt so solid and heavy in Oikawa's arms, it seemed wrong how weak he was.

Morning came and Oikawa's worries increased while his patience decreased. Gently, he touched Iwaizumi's forehead with his lips. The heat startled him.

“Iwa-chan...” Oikawa carefully shook him. “You need to wake up.”  
Iwaizumi blinked slowly, waking up from his restless sleep.

“I'm hungry,” he said, his voice heavy with sleep.

“We have other things to worry about right now!”

Iwaizumi avoided Oikawa's gaze. “Like the fact that I'll never get to go home? Or anywhere, for that matter.”

“Don't say that,” Oikawa answered, “please.”

“It's true though.” Iwaizumi's voice was tired and weak, but he still managed to sound agitated. 

“It doesn't have to be,” Oikawa whispered, “if you just tell me your name.” 

The human opened his mouth in protest, but Oikawa kept talking.  
“I understand if you don't trust me, but I really mean you no harm. I want you to live, I want you to be able to return back home.” That last one was a lie, but one that Oikawa tried really hard to make himself believe. 

Iwaizumi sighed and looked at Oikawa with a pained expression. He raised his right hand and cupped Oikawa's cheek, stroking it with his thumb. “I do trust you. It's just... this goes against everything I've ever learned. And I know you don't really want me to leave, there is a part of me that wants to stay with you.”

Oikawa closed his eyes and leaned into Iwaizumi's touch. He pressed a kiss against his hand. 

“Tooru.” A sudden gust of wind swept through the trees.

“What?”, Iwaizumi asked.

“My name.”

Iwaizumi lowered his hand and looked at Oikawa in shock.  
The beings inhabiting the great forest were known for guarding their names like treasures. Even though nobody apart from them really knew how to use a name for their gain, every person who knew their name was an added risk.

Opening his eyes, Oikawa looked at Iwaizumi desperately. “Please, tell me your name. I can't let you die!”

Slowly, Iwaizumi slumped against him and hid his face in Oikawa's neck.  
“It's Iwaizumi Hajime,” he said quietly. 

Oikawa pressed a reverent kiss against Iwaizumi's head. “My Hajime,” he whispered, “Hold on a little longer.”

Preparing, Oikawa took a deep breath.

_I told you I would sing for you._

His voice was quiet at first, while he gently rocked Iwaizumi in his arms. It flew through the air, wrapping itself around them like a soft blanket. 

For the first time in a long while, the forest seemed to make no sound. The world had nothing to say that was more important than the, to human ears, incoherent word Oikawa was singing into his human's ear.

When he felt Iwaizumi's back straighten and his breathing calm,  
he became louder. He was trying to put all of his affection for the man in front of him into his singing, scared that he might not get another opportunity to do so. 

Even when he knew that Iwaizumi was healed, because he felt both of Iwaizumi's hands in his hair, Oikawa did not stop. His magic spread from just Iwaizumi to the area around them, it could not be contained.

After Oikawa's song eventually came to an end, they both had tears in their eyes and blossoms from the tree above them were raining down on them, even though it had been completely green just an hour ago. The grass had gotten higher and was now tickling their arms. 

Oikawa let Iwaizumi go and blinked to try and make the tears disappear. “You can go now. I won't stop you,” he said, his voice cracking. 

Iwaizumi simply looked at him, with green eyes finally bright and awake again, and embraced him with newfound strength.  
“Home can wait one more day,” he said, his breath touching Oikawa's lips. “Thank you for saving my life.”

Being kissed by Iwaizumi felt right. It made the world quieten, even though no magic was involved. Oikawa could not hear anything except the beating of Iwaizumi's heart and it was the only sound he ever wanted to hear again. 

Breathlessly, Iwaizumi pulled away, looking at Oikawa as if he was something precious that only he had found. “You're really beautiful.”

They kissed and hugged for the rest of the day, taking breaks to eat strawberries, not letting go of each other once. 

Night came and Oikawa lied his head on Iwaizumi's chest, both of them looking up at the sky. 

“I wish you didn't have to leave. But I guess you can't live off strawberries forever.”

“I wish I could.” 

Turning around to look at him, Oikawa stroked Iwaizumi's cheek for what felt like the 100th time that day.  
“Visit me again, Hajime. I will miss you so much.”

Iwaizumi kissed his forehead. “I will miss you, too, Tooru. Of course I will visit you.”

Oikawa didn't dare to wish for a promise. It had to much weight, with them knowing each other's names. They had too much power over each other for knowing each other such a short time. 

“I promise,” Iwaizumi said in a firm voice. 

And when Iwaizumi closed his eyes to sleep, Oikawa listened to his breathing and let himself hope.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!  
> This is pretty different from my usual stuff, but it was probably the most fun I've had while writing.  
> I left a lot up to interpretation, so please tell me your thoughts and whether you think they will meet again!  
> If you find any mistakes, also feel free to tell me. I'm posting this at 1 a.m., so I probably don't see half of them.  
> Thank you for reading!  
> (Please listen to Hozier's music, it's great)


End file.
